By ART THIEL, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, March 7, 2005

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Despite a competitive field that includes Shin-Soo, Yuniesky, Ichiro, Masao, Pokey, Wiki and Shiggy, in the category of Mariners spring-training exotica, one cannot do better than Wladimir Balentien.

And not just because he sounds like a character from "Dr. Zhivago."

The facts:

Not only is he not Russian, he is a native of the eastern Caribbean island of Curacao (Cure-a-sow), part of the Netherlands Antilles.

He spent August in Athens as a member of the Dutch Olympic baseball team.

The 20-year-old outfielder is probably the best power-hitting prospect in the organization.

To underscore the latter, here are three major-league comparisons he drew at spring training:

General manager Bill Bavasi likened him to Angels outfielder Tim Salmon, whose strikeouts were indulged because of his otherwise high production.

Bob Engle, the club's director of international operations who has followed closely Balentin's progress since his signing in 2000, said the youngster evoked Gorman Thomas, the one-time thumper of the Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers.

There you have it: The Mariners' hero in the distance, Wlad the Impaler.

It will be a few years before anyone will have major league evidence with which to test these analogies. Balentien is still raw as garage-band music. In his first game of the spring, a "B" outing yesterday on the practice field of the San Diego Padres, Balentien struck out twice, popped out and walked, then was picked off first base. He also made a good running catch against the left field wall.

A speaker of Dutch, Spanish and the island's Papiamento dialect, Balentien said in good English that he is learning that such games are sufficiently common in the professional lives of major leaguers that he no longer needs to convey fury in public.

"I used to get so (deleted) off," he said. "At the Olympics, I was around more older players. They told me if I keep getting mad, I'll never get a hit. They said, 'Be cool.' That's what I'm trying to do."

Coolness, it seemed, wasn't quite there at the Olympics. For the Dutch team that went 2-4, Balentien had just two hits in 15 at-bats, striking out six times. But hey, at the Opening Ceremonies he got to hang a little with NBA star Carmelo Anthony, so coolness wasn't altogether elusive.

"The Olympics were a lot of fun, but compared to making the Mariners' 40-man roster, I'll take this," he said, smiling.

Since he starred at each of the lower levels of the system, the Mariners figured him worthy of one of the roster's protected berths.

Signed as a 16-year-old, he played respectably for three years on the Mariners' academy teams in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and was named MVP in 2002.

In 2003, he was MVP for the Mariners' Peoria team in the Arizona rookie league. Last year at Class A Wisconsin, he was that club's MVP, batting .277 with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs in 76 games (and 77 strikeouts).

"His ceiling's quite high," said Engle, a longtime scout for former GM Pat Gillick who was hired by the Mariners in 2000 as the top international talent spy. "He still overswings and needs to make adjustments. But he'll be a power hitter for us down the road."

The progress of the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Balentien is a reflection of the Mariners' increased emphasis on international scouting. Along with the traditional amateur draft and another growing talent source, the U.S. independent pro leagues, the Mariners, according to Bavasi, are among the top spenders in scouting. [Note: Balentien's weight has been corrected since this article was originally published]

"International remains the wild frontier, because the amateur draft won't grow," he said, referring to the fact that the limits on choices among high school and college players don't exist for free agents beyond the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Kids such as Balentien are subject only to the minimum-age (16) rule, otherwise they are free to sign with the club of their choice.

Keeping one's own draftees is not necessarily bad or good. It depends on what use is made of them. But in developing players such as Balentien, the club's investment includes more than money.

"I don't think most of us North Americans realize how difficult an adjustment it is for these kids coming here," Engle said. "It's hard. We want them to know that when they're away from home, we are there for them. For anything they need."

Balentien reported few difficult adjustments so far. Oh, some people keep changing the "W" in his first name to "V", even though it's pronounced the same. And there's always the expectation of a mystery connection to Russia, where his name is common.

"My grandmother just liked how it sounded, and my mother said she liked it too," Balentien said. He said he prefers the sound of "the next Ramirez."

And Mariners fans, just as with NBA fans, should get comfortable with the sound of the exotic.